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Ketsueki

Personality: A very young blood demon - an infant by the standards of most magical beings - Ketsu acts out like a child. Flighty, impudent, and self centred, the only thing they truly seem to value is their own personal triumphs over whoever they have decided is their current nemesis. Valuing brains over brawn, they prefer to triumph in feats of intellect over something as base as physical combat.

History: A child of Hades, they first stepping fully formed out of one of it's vast lakes of blood. After a few years of deciding on a name and identity, and sampling the unique delights of their home, Ketsu quickly learned of the lands above, and began to find the underworld oppressive, uninteresting, and limiting. It wasn't long before they decided, impulsively as always, that they would be seizing the next opportunity that passed through to leave for the lands of Althanas.

Appearance: They have yet to settle on a preferred appearance. Ketsu's innate form shifting allows them to step into whatever shape they desire, though most often they pick between one of two polar opposites. Switching equally between a tall and lithe young man, or a petite yet muscular young woman, they use both with equal confidence and comfort.

While they can shift between shapes with the ease that most creatures draw breath, they still lack experience with their transformations. Unless they are focusing on holding a specific appearance in their mind, their skin, hair, and eyes always revert back to a constant vibrant, almost visceral red. In addition, when they get particularly excited or agitated, they tend to manifest pointed ears, a long, flexible and expressive tail, and small leathery wings.

Clothing for them seems to almost be an after-thought, and mostly consists of large bolts of simple red-hued fabrics, wrapped and tied around them without much care. However they do have an almost draconian affinity for precious metals and jewels, which they hoard in the form of dozens of individual pieces of jewellery. These are either displayed fully or secreted away within their clothes, depending on if Ketsu is trying to draw attention to or away from themselves.

Skills:Deception - As a shapeshifter with a mischievous streak, Ketsu has spent countless hours taking on other forms and voices, refining the art of a truly believable lie.

Esoteric knowledge - A magical being born and raised on another plane, they have become familiar with things that others have only read in forbidden tombs.

Ninjutsu arts - Naturally taking to this combat style through a mix of research and practice, Ketsu is self taught and has yet to seek out a master to help refine their abilities.

Abilities:Malleable form - Ketsu's body is a pliable and flexible creation, able to shift and change seamlessly between the shape of any creature they have previously seen. They can rearrange it to take on other forms and divide it up into smaller, independent parts. Should part of their body be separated from them and sealed away, their thoughts and personality will become scattered and distracted until reunited. While divided into smaller parts, they can remain that way forever as long as the parts remain within three feet of each other. Scattering any farther takes a toll on Ketsu's focus and sanity, and they must return to a fully formed creature within two posts or risk permanent psychological damage.

If given access to a source of blood, they can grow and take on larger forms otherwise they are limited to a total size/weight of 250lbs. The largest Ketsu can currently grow, given an unlimited source of blood, before being unable to sustain their form and collapsing back down is to a size/weight of 10,000lbs. In the rain, they struggle to keep non-human forms and are forced to revert to a humanoid form after one post.

Substitution technique - By separating their body and building multiple hollow copies of themselves, Ketsu can jump their conscious between these fragile bodies, allowing them to evade enemy attacks. These shells are fragile and dissipate into a red mist when hit, and have the physical strength and capabilities of a 10 year old child. This cannot be used in the rain.

Equipment/Weapons:Fuuma Suriken - A large iron suriken that stands at 4' tall, Ketsu uses this as their primary weapon if they end up cornered in a fight, preferring to attack from a distance. Usually it is carried on their back, wrapped in a cloth.

Kunai - An iron kunai hidden in their clothes, this is their last line of attack against opponents who have gotten too close for them to wield their suriken.

Oil-paper umbrella - Ketsu always carries their umbrella with them, claiming to hate how rain 'dilutes' them. The shafts and core of it, while appearing to be bamboo, have iron shafts inside. In a pinch, they can use it to try and disarm or misdirect an opponent, or as an impromptu shield.

Hi there, welcome to Althanas! I'm going to be taking a quick look at your profile to help you get approved an out on the boards having fun. Just bear with me for a few minutes while I read it over and I'll let you know if any changes are required.

Hello again! The first thing we need to address is Malleable form. Presently it's a bit extreme, under our system it breaks down into three or four powerful abilities. The issue is it grants Ketsu several seemingly limitless powers. You can rework this however you choose, but try to tone it down so that it only enables Ketsu to do one or two things. My suggestion would be removing the parts about "pliable as a fine mist" and "reform after receiving damage". This would remove two of the more significant powers, but we may have to make further modifications even if you choose to go that route. If you need further guidance, I'm here to help.

I've changed malleable form! I could also make it so they can only take forms they've seen? Since they're new in the world it would limit their selection until they discovered more species through adventures?

That limitation would help... after further revision I'm also going to suggest that you put a threshold on how big/heavy Ketsu can grow if given access to unlimited blood. And, hopefully lastly, please put a time limit on how long Ketsu can remain in pieces before they must reunite. Thanks for your cooperation!

Ok! Given unlimited blood, they can grow up to 10k lbs - around the size of an elephant. (Though I don't see them gaining access to that much blood anywhere on Althanas!!!^^) I also gave them a limit of two posts for if they split up into pieces that move farther than three feet away from each other and put the bit about 'creatures they have already seen' in.

You might be surprised the things one finds on Althanas... for example, if you make the first post in a battle, you could conceivably make an arena that bordered on a lake full of blood. There's also tournament situations such as the Gisela and the Cell in which lots of blood gets spilled. I was thinking a limit of more like 300 lbs. The main reason I can't allow Ketsu to grow so massive is that having the strength to even move while so heavy would by definition give them extreme strength. You'll be able to increase the size they can grow as you level up, but it may take you awhile to get to 10,000 lbs.

And lastly I'm going to have to ask you to lock Substitution technique for now. Malleable form is still so powerful on its own that it will fill up your permitted Total Power Level.

Oh sorry, I don't want to use that ability in combat, only the second one! Is there any way to designate an ability as non-combat only? They don't know how to fight effectively when they're not in one of their regular human forms.

Adding in that they can't fight while in non human forms would also help reduce the power level a bit, but 10,000 lbs. is still way too massive to be permitted. Because of the other powers associated with this ability I'm going to stick with my suggestion of 300 lbs. We don't designate abilities as non-combat, however if you describe it in such a way that it clearly doesn't have combat applications the power level is reduced.